PrepTest 132, Section 4, Question 24
In a recent study of arthritis, researchers tried(82 more words not shown)
Of the following, which one(5 more words not shown)
- Aindicates that the(13 more words not shown)
- Bindicates that arthritis(20 more words not shown)
- Csuggests that arthritis(9 more words not shown)
- Dsuggests that some(11 more words not shown)
- Esuggests that the(12 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Maybe people are finding a pattern that isn't there. When pain gets worse, it's natural to look for something that changed, and the weather gives us plenty of possible candidates.
But let's be careful about what this study establishes. Researchers didn't find the claimed connection between weather and pain intensity. That makes the connection questionable; it doesn't prove that weather could never matter or that the study could not have missed something.
The accounts of timing add to the doubt. One person might report pain immediately after a weather change, while another reports it a week later. Those widely varying accounts don't give us a consistent pattern to reinforce the belief.
What we’re looking for
The completion should draw that cautious conclusion: the claimed weather-pain connection may be something people perceive rather than something the study supports. We're questioning their explanation for the pain, not saying their pain is imaginary.
Working the answers
- A
Different reports of delays don't establish different actual speeds of an effect. First we'd need evidence that the weather caused the pain changes. The study didn't find that relationship, so A treats the sufferers' interpretation as established when it is what the evidence calls into question.
- B
This introduces a new effect of belief: changing people's judgments about how intense their pain is. The passage questions their beliefs about the cause and timing of pain. It doesn't show that those beliefs alter how much pain they report feeling. A mistaken explanation for pain isn't the same as a distorted assessment of its intensity.
- CCorrect
The failure to find a correlation, together with inconsistent accounts of its timing, suggests that the asserted pattern may be imagined. “Suggests” matters: this is a cautious inference from the study, not proof that weather never affects anyone's symptoms. And what may be imagined is the correlation, not the pain.
- D
This also assumes that weather-induced pain is established, then proposes differences in susceptibility. But the evidence is being used to question that supposed effect. It doesn't establish that some sufferers experience a real weather effect more readily than others.
- E
Failing to find a relationship in a study doesn't mean scientific investigation is impossible. This passage itself describes an investigation. Another study might use different methods or produce different evidence; nothing here rules out studying the question.
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